Local microstructure of silica glass

Abstract We present a microstructure study of different amorphous states of SiO2, which are constructed by compress–decompress procedure. The local microstructure is analyzed through the coordination number, bond-angle statistic and the characteristic of void. The simulation reveals that the number of SiO4, SiO5 and SiO6 units varies in different silica states, but their topology is identical. The densest model (highest density) is obtained upon compress pressure around 20 GPa. The change in void space for different silica states is also calculated and discussed here.